I am a Hull University student and as part of
my course I have to do a assignment on Marxist
Feminism and don't know where to start. Could
you please give me a basic overview of what it
is?

Thank
You,
Emily

Dear
Emily,

In general, Marxist feminism is symbolized through
the radical women's movement of the early 1970s/late
1960s, and is also described as the socialist
feminist movement. In general this movement was
about creating an alternative culture; one that
wasn't based on the usual premise of supply and
demand or on a hierarchical model. The idea was
to break down the hierarchy so each individual
could thrive.However,
this never really happened, in part because capitalism
and also because only a few feminists ever supported
this approach in the first place.

So
a more mainstream approach to feminism (i.e. one
that focused on integrating the mainstream first
and radicalizing it second) took over and the
Marxist approach faded away. That said, there
are still many feminists who support and hope
for this approach. There is a great description
on Marxist feminism in The Readers Companion
to U.S. Women's History.